Bridget was born in London on the 24th April, 1931 and spent her childhood in Cornwall and Lincolnshire. She studied at Goldsmiths College (1949-1952), and later at the Royal College of Art (1952-1955), where her fellow students included Peter Blake and Frank Auerbach. Her early work was figurative with a semi-impressionist style. Circa 1960 she began to develop her signature Op Art style consisting of black and white geometric patterns that explore the dynamism of sight.

Since the mid-1960s she has been celebrated for her distinctive style which actively engages the viewer’s sensations and perceptions, producing visual experiences that are complex and challenging, subtle and arresting. Influences include the pointillism of Georges Seurat which introduced her to optical effects, Victor Vasarely, who had used designs of black and white lines since the 1930s and the Futurists.

Riley's first solo show was staged in London in 1962 at Gallery One. Soon after in 1965 she exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City show, "The Responsive Eye". The exhibition drew worldwide attention to her work and the Op Art movement. Riley began investigating color in 1967, the year in which she produced her first stripe painting. [5] Following a major retrospective in the early 1970s, Riley began travelling extensively. After a trip to Egypt in the early 1980s, where she was inspired by hieroglyphic decoration, Riley began to explore colour and contrastIn some works, lines of colour are used to created a shimmering effect, while in others the canvas is filled with tessellating patterns.

In 1968 Riley represented Great Britain in the Venice Biennale. She was the first British contemporary painter, and the first woman, to be awarded the prestigious International Prize for painting. Important museum exhibitions include Hayward Gallery, London, 1971; National Gallery, Prague, 1971; Hayward Gallery and Kunsthalle Nuremberg, 1992 and the Tate, 2002.